Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and atrial fibrillation: catheter ablation vs. standard medical therapy - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The latest guidelines advocate for catheter ablation (CA) over standard medical therapy (SMT) for managing atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, significant knowledge gaps exist regarding the effectiveness of CA vs. SMT in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Association between proactive esophageal cooling and increased lab throughput.

Introduction: Proactive esophageal cooling has been FDA cleared to reduce the likelihood of ablation-related esophageal injury resulting from radiofrequency (RF) cardiac ablation procedures. Data suggest that procedure times for RF pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) also decrease when proactive esophageal cooling is employed instead of luminal esophageal temperature (LET) monitoring. Reduced procedure times may allow increased electrophysiology (EP) lab throughput.

Apixaban for Stroke Prevention in Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: Subclinical atrial fibrillation is short-lasting and asymptomatic and can usually be detected only by long-term continuous monitoring with pacemakers or defibrillators. Subclinical atrial fibrillation is associated with an increased risk of stroke by a factor of 2.5; however, treatment with oral anticoagulation is of uncertain benefit.

Atrioesophageal Fistula Rates Before and After Adoption of Active Esophageal Cooling During Atrial Fibrillation Ablation.

Background: Active esophageal cooling reduces the incidence of endoscopically identified severe esophageal lesions during radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation of the left atrium for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. A formal analysis of the atrioesophageal fistula (AEF) rate with active esophageal cooling has not previously been performed.

Objectives: The authors aimed to compare AEF rates before and after the adoption of active esophageal cooling.

Evaluation of Safety Outcomes of Undiluted Levetiracetam Intravenous Push Compared to Intravenous Piggyback.

Breakthrough seizures and status epilepticus require urgent management. Administration of intravenous push (IVP) levetiracetam has been demonstrated to be safe as compared to intravenous piggyback (IVPB). This transition can potentially offer faster time to administration and reduced drug and material cost.

Accessibility and use of novel methods for predicting physical activity and energy expenditure using accelerometry: a scoping review.

Use of raw acceleration data and/or 'novel' analytic approaches like machine learning for physical activity measurement will not be widely implemented if methods are not accessible to researchers.: This scoping review characterizes the validation approach, accessibility and use of novel analytic techniques for classifying energy expenditure and/or physical activity intensity using raw or count-based accelerometer data.: Three databases were searched for articles published between January 2000 and February 2021.

Interaction between the BDNF rs11030101 genotype and job stress on cognitive empathy.

Background: Empathy refers to an individual's ability to experience the emotional and cognitive processes of another person during social interactions. Although many studies have examined the effects of genetic variation on emotional empathy, little is currently known about whether genetic factors may influence cognitive empathy. This study investigated the relationship between BDNF rs11030101 genotype, job stress, and empathy, especially cognitive empathy, in a Chinese Han population.

Step Monitor Accuracy During PostStroke Physical Therapy and Simulated Activities.

Introduction/purpose: The amount of stepping activity during rehabilitation post-stroke can predict walking outcomes, although the most accurate methods to evaluate stepping activity are uncertain with conflicting findings on available stepping monitors during walking assessments. Rehabilitation sessions also include non-stepping activities and the ability of activity monitors to differentiate these activities from stepping is unclear. The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of different activity monitors worn by individuals post-stroke with variable walking speeds during clinical physical therapy (PT) and research interventions focused on walking.

Nonparametric estimation of recursive point processes with application to mumps in Pennsylvania.

The self-exciting Hawkes point process model (Hawkes, 1971) has been used to describe and forecast communicable diseases. A variant of the Hawkes model, called the recursive model, was proposed by Schoenberg et al. (2019) and has been shown to fit well to various epidemic disease datasets.

Expanding Advocacy to the Grassroots Level: The New York State Model.

New York State has achieved pharmacy practice advancement legislation more slowly than other states. Despite the benefits of pharmacy advocacy in shaping legislation, in New York State advocacy activities have generally been limited to once per year during Lobby Day. Implementation of a grassroots advocacy infrastructure has been able to organize and sustain legislative engagement among members of our professional organization, with more than 100 legislative visits completed since creation of the Grassroots Advocacy Committee.

Polypharmacological Perturbation of the 14-3-3 Adaptor Protein Interactome Stimulates Neurite Outgrowth.

Targeting protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is a promising approach in the development of drugs for many indications. 14-3-3 proteins are a family of phosphoprotein-binding molecules with critical functions in dozens of cell signaling networks. 14-3-3s are abundant in the central nervous system, and the small molecule fusicoccin-A (FC-A), a tool compound that can be used to manipulate 14-3-3 PPIs, enhances neurite outgrowth in cultured neurons.

Accuracy of the Cosmed K5 portable calorimeter.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of the Cosmed K5 portable metabolic system dynamic mixing chamber (MC) and breath-by-breath (BxB) modes against the criterion Douglas bag (DB) method.

Methods: Fifteen participants (mean age±SD, 30.6±7.

Implanted Monitor Alerting to Reduce Treatment Delay in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome Events.

Background: Increased pre-hospital delay during acute coronary syndrome (ACS) events contributes to worse outcome.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an implanted cardiac monitor with real-time alarms for abnormal ST-segment shifts to reduce pre-hospital delay during ACS events.

Methods: In the ALERTS (AngeLmed Early Recognition and Treatment of STEMI) pivotal study, subjects at high risk for recurrent ACS events (n = 907) were randomized to control (Alarms OFF) or treatment groups for 6 months, after which alarms were activated in all subjects (Alarms ON).

Use of consumer monitors for estimating energy expenditure in youth.

The purpose of this study was to compare energy expenditure (EE) estimates from 5 consumer physical activity monitors (PAMs) to indirect calorimetry in a sample of youth. Eighty-nine youth (mean (SD); age, 12.3 (3.

Components of Radiologic Progressive Disease Defined by RECIST 1.1 in Patients with Metastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Background Progression-free survival (PFS) determined by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 (RECIST 1.1) is the reference standard to assess efficacy of treatments in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Implantable Cardiac Alert System for Early Recognition of ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Background: Symptoms remain a poor prompt for acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Timely restoration of perfusion in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction is associated with improved left ventricular function and survival.

Objectives: This report details the results of ALERTS (AngelMed for Early Recognition and Treatment of STEMI), a multicenter, randomized trial of an implantable cardiac monitor that alerts patients with rapidly progressive ST-segment deviation.

Domain agnostic online semantic segmentation for multi-dimensional time series.

Unsupervised semantic segmentation in the time series domain is a much studied problem due to its potential to detect unexpected regularities and regimes in poorly understood data. However, the current techniques have several shortcomings, which have limited the adoption of time series semantic segmentation beyond academic settings for four primary reasons. First, most methods require setting/learning many parameters and thus may have problems generalizing to novel situations.

A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Cardiac Contractility Modulation.

Objectives: This study sought to confirm a subgroup analysis of the prior FIX-HF-5 (Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of the OPTIMIZER System in Subjects With Moderate-to-Severe Heart Failure) study showing that cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) improved exercise tolerance (ET) and quality of life in patients with ejection fractions between 25% and 45%.

Background: CCM therapy for New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III and IV heart failure (HF) patients consists of nonexcitatory electrical signals delivered to the heart during the absolute refractory period.

Methods: A total of 160 patients with NYHA functional class III or IV symptoms, QRS duration <130 ms, and ejection fraction ≥25% and ≤45% were randomized to continued medical therapy (control, n = 86) or CCM (treatment, n = 74, unblinded) for 24 weeks.

Estimating Energy Expenditure with ActiGraph GT9X Inertial Measurement Unit.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore whether gyroscope and magnetometer data from the ActiGraph GT9X improved accelerometer-based predictions of energy expenditure (EE).

Methods: Thirty participants (mean ± SD: age, 23.0 ± 2.

14-3-3 adaptor protein-protein interactions as therapeutic targets for CNS diseases.

14-3-3s are a family of ubiquitously expressed adaptor proteins that regulate hundreds of functionally diverse 'client proteins.' In humans, there are seven isoforms with conserved structure and function. 14-3-3s typically bind to client proteins at phosphorylated serine/threonine motifs via a linear binding groove.

Targeting 14-3-3 adaptor protein-protein interactions to stimulate central nervous system repair.

The goal of developing treatments for central nervous system (CNS) injuries is becoming more attainable with the recent identification of various drugs that can repair damaged axons. These discoveries have stemmed from screening efforts, large expression datasets and an improved understanding of the cellular and molecular biology underlying axon growth. It will be important to continue searching for new compounds that can induce axon repair.

Maximizing functional axon repair in the injured central nervous system: Lessons from neuronal development.

The failure of damaged axons to regrow underlies disability in central nervous system injury and disease. Therapies that stimulate axon repair will be critical to restore function. Extensive axon regeneration can be induced by manipulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressors; however, it has been difficult to translate this into functional recovery in models of spinal cord injury.